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555 Dirksen Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Ph: 202.224.6342
Fax: 202.224.1100
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Raleigh Office:
310 New Bern Avenue
Suite 122
Raleigh, NC 27601
Ph: 919.856.4630
Toll Free: 866.420.6083
Fax: 919.856.4053
Salisbury Office:
225 North Main Street
Suite 304
Salisbury, NC 28144
Ph: 704.633.5011
Toll Free: 866.420.6084
Fax: 704.633.2937
Western Office:
401 North Main Street
Suite 200
Hendersonville, NC 28792
Ph: 828.698.3747
Fax: 828.698.1267
Eastern Office:
306 South Evans Street
Greenville, NC 27835
Ph: 252.329.1093
Fax: 252.329.1097
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Floor Statements
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SENATOR DOLE CALLS FOR "UP OR DOWN" VOTE ON JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS
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November 13th, 2003 - Mr. President, when the Constitution was drafted so many years ago, it outlined a process by which the President of the United States would nominate judges with the “advice and consent” of the U.S. Senate. The filibuster expands the Senate’s advice and consent role in nominations well beyond what the Constitution envisioned.
And for too long, politics has prevented the Senate from doing its constitutional duty.
The judicial process is obviously gridlocked. Qualified candidates have been nominated only to find that they are unable to get proper consideration on the Senate floor. In the meantime, burgeoning court dockets, delayed trials and overworked judges have become the norm for far too many of our courts, especially in North Carolina.
This simply isn’t right. Every President, Republican or Democrat, deserves to have his nominees voted on. Every Senator has a responsibility to exercise his or her constitutional duty to vote on the President’s nominees, and every nominee deserves a hearing, a committee vote, and an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor. Americans deserve courts that are staffed with qualified judges, and the process should be absolutely free of politics.
I was sworn in as a United States Senator to represent 8 million North Carolinians. In
doing so, I took an oath to fulfill the duties of this office, including one of a Senator’s most important responsibilities – voting on judicial nominees submitted by the President. Unfortunately, politics has undermined this process. Americans have the right to know where their Senators stand, and no one, no one should be able to hide behind parliamentary loopholes to avoid accountability to his or her constituents. The Constitution calls on all 100 Senators to give their advice and consent – not 1 Senator with a blue slip, not a group of Senators on the Judiciary Committee, but all 100 Senators!
President Bush has said that each judicial nominee deserves a vote within 180 days of his or her nomination. Unfortunately, that is not the case for several of our excellent North Carolina nominees. Right now, we have three whose nominations have been languishing in the Senate.
Terry Boyle was first nominated to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1991 – and then again in May 2001 – this means he has been denied the courtesy of a vote in the Senate for more than a decade! Let me make that clear…More than a decade! The 4th Circuit hears federal appeals from North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland. North Carolina is the largest state in the 4th Circuit, and historically the number of judges roughly corresponds with population. By this measure, we should have 4 to 5 judges on the court. Mr. President, we have only one. And this seat has been vacant so long it has been declared a judicial emergency, so it is imperative that we act now.
And Terry Boyle is extremely well qualified for the job. He is Chief Judge for the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of North Carolina, having served on that Court for 17 years. He was designated to sit with the Court of Appeals 12 times, and he has authored over 20 appellate opinions! Everett Thompson, an Elizabeth City lawyer and a Democrat, said this of Terry Boyle: “I think he is really one of the best trial judges I’ve every appeared before. He’s a student of the law, he works hard, he’s bright, he’s fair. And I never saw him be political about anything at all.”
And then there is Jim Dever, former Editor-in-Chief of the Duke University Law Journal, nominated to serve on the U.S. District Court for Eastern North Carolina. How long should a nominee have to wait for a hearing? Three weeks? Six weeks? Six months? This distinguished attorney has waited 18 months just to get a hearing! The seat has been vacant for almost six years – currently, the longest district court vacancy in the country! And the Eastern District is an area where his skills and expertise are desperately needed – this vacancy has been a judicial emergency since 1999– and, until the recent confirmation of Louise Flanagan, there were only two full-time judges there. The caseload got so heavy last year that U.S. District Judge Malcolm Howard had to continue seven civil cases because of the pressing criminal docket, which takes precedent by law. In an order announcing his decision, Judge Howard wrote, “For more than two years, this four-judge authorized court has functioned with two active judges. The result over time is that the caseload, civil and criminal, has become almost insurmountable.” Mr. President, there hasn’t been one single objection raised about Jim Dever’s qualifications. he has broad bipartisan support. Robinson Everett, a Duke Law professor and former chief judge of the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, describes Jim Dever as having “all the requisite qualities”…“he will be a “superb jurist.”
And, Mr. President, Bob Conrad is a well-respected U.S. Attorney nominated in April to be United States District Judge for the Western District of North Carolina. He is sorely needed. This is a District that had one of the highest caseloads in the country for the 6th year in a row. Bob Conrad is held in high esteem by his colleagues – Republicans and Democrats. He is known for his prosecution of a cigarette smuggling ring funding the terrorist group Hezbollah. In 1999, he was appointed by then-Attorney General Janet Reno…Janet Reno! As the point man for a Justice Department Task Force looking into illegal fundraising on the campaign trail. Roy Cooper, the Democrat Attorney General for North Carolina, said of him, “Bob is a straight shooter. We are from different political parties, but I believe he is a student of the law and his decisions are not affected by partisan politics.”
All three North Carolina nominees come with superb credentials, yet none has ever been considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee or, of course, the full Senate. This is a fairness issue. It isn’t fair to these nominees and certainly isn’t fair to our judicial system, which must not be subjected to political maneuverings.
If a Senator believes a nominee is not qualified, then have the confidence to convince fellow senators to vote against him. But at least take a vote! I trust my colleagues will vote based on a nominee’s qualifications, like integrity, fairness, intelligence, work ethic, adherence to the rule of law and judicial temperament. We owe it to their constituents to take a stand on each and every judge. And that simply isn’t happening in the United States Senate.
There are a variety of ways that nominees have been held up in the Senate over many years. But we have reached an unparalleled level with the filibuster of judges. Instead of continuing a trend of retaliation, we have the ability to stop this downward spiral in its tracks. If we don’t, the loser will be justice, the hundreds of thousands of crime victims in the United States and the judges who are overworked and unable to meet the demands on their courtrooms. And common sense tells us that many of America’s highest courtrooms don’t have judges to run them, and as a result, the legal system simply can’t function. Yes, justice delayed is justice denied.
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| Elizabeth Dole |
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13th - current Floor Statement
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 : radio clip |  : television clip
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